When all Hope seems lost
by Bright-Eyed Athena
Summary: It escaped from a place of horrible pain and misery. It's only option was death. Until Mikey found it and brought it back to the lair. But does it want their help? Please R&R!
1. Kindness of Strangers

Pain. It was all I had known for so long. New pain. Old pain. Never-ending pain. And the Change. They always wanted the Change. It was just pain and the Change.

Not anymore. Sure, there was pain.

But it would be over soon.

The wet beat down on me, perhaps trying to drown me. A loud clash in the sky made me whimper and run faster. As fast as one can run with a leg that held only pain and more pain on the inside, making it hard to breathe. But still I ran. I couldn't stop.

Suddenly, I came to an opening in front of me. Large metal machines went past, in a dizzying, random pattern that meant that they never collided with one another. It was almost as frightening as what lay behind me, chasing me. But unlike my past, these metal machines would save me. They would stop the pain. I closed my eyes and dragged my poor body into their path.

For the youngest ninja turtle, Michelangelo, the day had started like any other. He had woken up, completed morning practice with his brothers, cooked breakfast, grumbled about the lack of food and his latest practice injuries and then slumped in front of the TV for some video game time. Donatello, of course had retreated to his lab, doing God-knows-what, Leonardo, ever the conscientious student, was perfecting new ways to take down his opponents and Raphael was taking out some left over energy on a punching bag.

After an hour, Mikey threw down his control in frustration, "I'm bored!" he announced.

After deciding that disturbing Raph or Leo would probably only lead to pain, Mikey thought it best to go and see what Donnie was up to. Wandering into the lab, Mikey found Donnie with roughly a hundred various items of electrical equipment strew all over his workbench as he sat hunched over a few pieces with a small blowtorch.

"Whatcha doing?"

Donnie snapped off the blowtorch, remembering the last time Mikey had been near it. "Just making some improvements to something I'm working on."

"Can I help?" Mikey asked, leaning over to pick up a colourful piece of metal.

Donnie quickly slapped his brother's hand away, "No. Need I remind you what happened last time you wanted to 'help' me?" he said, pushing his safety goggles onto his head.

"It's not my fault the microwave blew up!" Mikey protested.

Donnie just rolled his eyes, "Why don't you go get everyone some lunch?"

Mikey's stomach rumbled at the thought of food, "Shellicious idea, bro!"

Donning the not-at-all-suspicious-looking trench coat and hat the turtles wore whenever they wanted to disguise their appearance, Mikey left the sewers and emerged from a manhole in a deserted alleyway. Making sure no one was around, he casually walked around the corner and blended in with the few people that were out in the cold rain. Mikey walked into their local pizza shop and ordered five pizzas with everything except anchovies. As he was waiting for the food, Mikey glanced outside to see a small black shape moving rather pathetically towards the road. It was dragging one leg behind it as it moved into the path of oncoming traffic.

Without hesitation, Mikey practically flew out of the pizza store and launched himself across the road, to scoop up the small animal and landed, almost gracefully, in the alleyway opposite the pizza place.

Mikey carefully unfolded the animal from his arms to see a midnight-black dog, still a puppy. Mikey wasn't sure what breed it was but it had floppy ears and sad eyes. Its fur was matted, dirty and covered in dried blood and fresh. He could hear it softly whimpering and his heart moved for the poor thing. One of its legs was also clearly broken, Mikey could nearly see bone sticking out of the fur.

"Don't worry," he said whilst carefully placing the puppy in his hat, "I'll take you home and Donnie will make you better."

Mikey took twice as long to get back to the lair than he normally did, as he was being careful not to jolt his precious cargo. Even being careful, he could still hear it whimpering and softly crying whenever its leg was moved.

As soon as he entered the lair, he started yelling, "Donnie! Don!"

Donnie shot out of his lab like he was riding a rocket, "Mikey?! What's wrong?"

Leo and Raph weren't far behind, emerging from the training room, "What's gotten into ya, Mikey?" asked Raph, his usual annoyed self.

Mikey rushed straight over to Donnie, "Donnie! You have to help! I found it and it's all hurt and bleeding and-"

"Ok, ok," said Donnie, catching sight of the dog, "Bring it into my lab."

Donnie rushed ahead to gather his medical equipment, with Mikey behind him and Leo and Raph bringing up the rear.

"It's not another baby bird, is it?" Raph asked Leo, "I ain't feeding this one."

**AN- Hey guys! This is my first TMNT Fic, but if you love the X-Men please check out my two other fics about them. I love reviews, so please let me know what you think, and remember that the more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to write the next chapter!**


	2. Revelation of Disguise

The pain had not stopped. I fear it would never. They had found me and now I would never be free of them. My life would only be pain. I would never get another chance for freedom.

I faded into the blackness, wishing it was for the last time.

Donnie finally emerged from his lab to find Mikey anxiously waiting on the couch for him. Raph was in the dojo where the constant sound of a fist or leg hitting a punching bag could be heard. Leo was seated on the floor cross-legged, meditating.

"Is it going to be ok?" said Mikey.

Don sighed, stretching his muscles from too many hours hunched over, "I'm sorry Mikey. She's very badly injured. I did an x-ray and found two fractured ribs and a broken leg. Not to mention all the cuts and bruises. I put in an IV put I don't think she'll last the night."

"No!" cried Mikey, "There has to be something you can do."

"I'm sorry."

Mikey hurried into the lab.

"Who would do that to a dog?" asked Leo.

"There's something else," said Don, "when I did that x-ray I found evidence of over 30 previously broken bones or fractures. She's also malnourished and dehydrated."

Leo frowned, "Why would anyone do something like that?"

"I don't know, Leo. There are some real monsters out there."

Mikey pulled up a chair next to the table where the dog lay. She was covered in bandages, especially around her ribcage, and Don had set the broken hind leg in a cast. An IV had been inserted into another leg. Mikey grabbed a washcloth and some warm water and gently began washing the blood out of the dog's fur.

"It's gonna be ok, little guy, just hang in there."

The pain was... less. I couldn't figure out why. My mind was clouded, forming thoughts was hard. There was still a sharp pain on the inside whenever I breathed. My leg felt heavy; I dreaded to find out what was happening.

I knew I must Change. I was vulnerable in this form; although I had teeth and claws, two-legged paws were better for grabbing and fighting. I would be bigger, and hopefully stronger.

My mind fell into a daze again and when I regained myself I began the Change. My limbs became longer, my fur slowly disappeared and I screamed as a pressure around my middle tightened and burst when I grew too big for it and the heaviness around my leg eased as the same occurred. Tiny pains everywhere became larger ones as I felt them reopening and start bleeding again.

I screamed again and fell off a surface onto the hard floor.

Donnie was snapped out of an exhausted sleep on the couch by an inhuman scream coming from his lab. He bolted awake and ran inside, quickly followed by his three brothers, each with drawn weapons and confused faces.

"What is it Donnie?" said Leo as he burst in, ready to defend his family.

Mikey was close behind him; he first noticed that his dog was nowhere to be seen.

"Donnie, what happened to the dog?"

Donnie, snapped out of his speechlessness, pointed at the writhing mess of a human girl on the floor beside the table, "I think that is your dog, Mikey."

**Thanks for all the support guys! Free invisible castles to all reviewers! **


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